We’ve had a heavy couple of episodes on Batwoman recently. An alternate version of Beth showed up from an Earth where Kate saved her from the car crash. The show mined that for two fantastic episodes, culminating with an emotional gut punch last week. Now, the city thinks Alice is dead, and only Kate knows she’s still out there angrier than ever. That story arc remains the series’ high point so far, but even this show knows it needs a break from all that seriousness. Sometimes, we need a villain of the week episode. Luke even says as much when introducing this episode’s villain. This week, Batwoman goes up against a vampire named Nocturna. Awesome. On board.
I’ve been waiting for Batwoman to dip into some stranger comic book-ish stuff since episode one. I’m so happy the story and characters have gotten to a point where the show can comfortably do an episode like this. It doesn’t ignore the season arc completely, but this is largely a standalone episode, and a particularly fun one, at that. Even Kate, still grieving over losing Beth, is excited to suit up and go vampire slaying. Maybe a little too excited. She confronts Nocturna, and after a few groan-inducing vampire bat puns, we get to the fighting. It’s a cool-looking fight, but over fairly quickly. Nocturna distracts Batwoman and bites her in the neck. The bite paralyzes Batwoman, and next thing she knows, she’s tied up in a warehouse with another of the vampire’s victims. Before any blood can be drawn though, Crows storm the building. Sophie finds Batwoman first though, and lets her go, since they’ve been helping each other lately.
Amber Lewis as Elle Scantlin, Ruby Rose as Kate Kane/Batwoman and Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore — Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW
You just know that decision’s going to make things harder for her down the road, though. Right after that scene, we see Jacob give a speech to the crows about how Batwoman is their number one problem. How she’s a dangerous vigilante that needs to be contained. Sophie working with Batwoman was always going to come out sooner rather than later. First though, it’s time for an undercover mission. Kate throws a party in one of her buildings to draw the vampire out, and Jacob sends Sophie to search for her as well. Sophie ends up hitting on a woman at the bar and Kate plays bartender to make sure the new girl’s on the up and up. Kate accidentally-on-purpose cuts herself and finds the woman talking to Sophie is afraid of blood. So that’s one person who’s definitely not the vampire, and Kate looks like an awkward ex now.
It’s fun watching Kate and Luke be detectives here, scanning each person in the club one by one, trying to piece together who the villain could be. In the end, it’s Alice that leads Kate to the real culprit. Alice shows up outside the club looking for Mouse. After a tense conversation, Kate leaves her and a woman attacks Alice in the alley. Kate sees it happen on video, and she and Luke figure out who the vampire is: A woman who burns instantly in sunlight and whose kidneys don’t properly filter blood. Meaning she needs to get fresh transfusions constantly. Her father was taking care of her until a few weeks ago, but he died, leaving her on her own. That’s a minor Bat-family villain if I’ve ever heard one.
Rachel Skarsten as Beth and Ruby Rose as Kate Kane/Batwoman — Photo: Michael Courtney/The CW
Alice isn’t the main antagonist of this episode, but I still love everything it does with her. This episode manages to tell a good Alice story while at the same time centering a different villain altogether. Captured by Nocturna, Alice makes a deal with her. In exchange for letting her go with most of her blood, she tells her there’s someone whose blood could cure her condition. Yep, to save her on life, Alice sends the vampire after Mary. When Batwoman finds Alice, she wonders why Nocturna left her alive, but decides to deal with that later. Seeing the ropes around Alice’s hands, she figures Nocturna must be operating out of the abandoned Gotham Cathedral. So some fun detective work sets up a great setpiece for the episode’s big fight. This is pretty much everything I wanted from a Batwoman show.
Batwoman races to the Cathedral where she finds Mary, tied up and drained of blood. Nocturna attacks, but Alice shows up to help fight her off. Then Alice does something oddly selfless. She gives some of her own blood to Mary, saving her life. Meanwhile, Batwoman chases after Nocturna and, after a very cool fight around the cathedral’s bell, restrains her and calls in The Crows to come arrest her. Once Mary’s OK, Kate finds out that Nocturna was after the healing elixir in her blood. There’s only one way she could have known about that. She asks Alice why she saved Mary after sending a vampire after her. Alice says it was to prove to Kate that she chose the wrong sister. That she is capable of doing good. Kate says there’s no way Alice will ever redeem herself, but I’m not so sure. Alice is still clearly a bad guy, but her actions here complicate her a bit. At the very least, Kate is certainly more conflicted than she’s letting on.
Dougray Scott as Jacob Kane and Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW
Meanwhile, Kate’s call to Sophie with Nocturna’s whereabouts came at the exact wrong time. Turns out there was a security camera that recorded Sophie letting Batwoman go. Jacob called Sophie out of the field to ask her if she and Batwoman were working together. That’s right when Batwoman called to say Nocturna was restrained on the roof of the cathedral. Jacob says he can’t trust her anymore and suspends her. Not knowing where else to turn, Sophie turns out the bat-signal. She gives Batwoman a whole speech about not knowing who she is without her job. Just as Batwoman’s about to leave though, Sophie stops her and they start making out on the roof. Just like Kate, we’ve been waiting for that kiss all season.
Batwoman is taking next week off, but I’m glad it left us on a great villain-of-the-week episode like this. Not only did it give us a fun vampire story, it moved the Alice arc forward in a meaningful way. It managed to teach us something new about her character, which is impressive for an episode where she’s not the main focus. It also left the world in a much more interesting place than it found it. Kate and Alice’s relationship is now even more complicated. Sophie might defect from the crows and is falling hard for Batwoman without even knowing who she is. Oh and Mary puts all of Kate’s strange behavior together and figures out her secret. So she knows now. Wish I didn’t have to wait two weeks to see where that goes.
Batwoman airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
Previously on Batwoman:
- Batwoman Season 1 Episode 12 recap
- Batwoman Season 1 Episode 11 recap
- Batwoman Season 1 Episode 10 recap
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